Wofford College Athletics

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Wofford volleyball team nearly handed Furman its first home loss of the season, but could not close out the Paladins and lost in five sets (25-19, 20-25, 25-21, 10-25, 11-15) Wednesday night inside Alley Gymnasium.
 
Wofford and Furman went toe-to-toe through the first three sets. A 10-3 run closed out the first in favor of Wofford, but Furman battled back in the second to even the match. The Terriers jumped ahead 8-4 in the third and never trailed the rest of the way to take a 2-1 lead into the fourth.
 
The Paladins never gave Wofford a chance in the fourth, jumping ahead 9-3 and leading by as many as 13 at 22-9. It pushed the match to a fifth set, the first between the two teams since the 2013 Southern Conference quarterfinals.
 
Wofford led the final set 5-3 on one of Lauren Miller's 14 kills. Furman responded with the next four points to go on top by a pair and carried the lead the rest of the way. Jamilia Johnson put down the final two kills, finishing with a match-high 16, to improve the Paladins (17-8, 11-4 SoCon) to a perfect 10-0 at home.
 
The loss is the fourth straight for Wofford (15-16, 6-8 SoCon), who sit sixth in the Southern Conference standings.
 
Miller's 14 kills led all Terriers. The redshirt freshman hit an impressive .414 and tied her career-high with five aces. Sophomore Bella Santoro also reached double figures with 10 kills, but her attack with negated by 10 errors. Senior libero Jessica Graham tallied a match-high 25 digs and sophomore setter Molly Mayo went for a match-high 51 assists.
 
For Furman, Johnson (16), Annie Bierman (14) and Taina Joseph (13) all hit double figures in the kill column. Joseph attacked at a match-high .476 and was also a force on the block, leading all players with eight. Her efforts on both offense and defense helped Furman outhit Wofford .273 to .191 and out-block the Terriers 13-11.
 
Wofford closes out the regular season this Friday and Saturday at home. The Terriers welcome UNCG to Benjamin Johnson Arena on Friday, followed by The Citadel for Senior Night on Saturday. Both matches start at 6 p.m.
 
The 2015 Southern Conference Tournament Championship is scheduled for Nov. 20-22 and will be hosted by Western Carolina at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, N.C.
 
Terrier Notes:
- Wofford and Furman split the season series. The Terriers defeated Furman in three sets back on October 7 in Spartanburg.
- Lauren Miller tied a career-high with five aces.
- Colleen Reilly had four blocks to up her season total to 110, which ranks seventh in Wofford's single-season record books.
- Molly Mayo had 51 assists to up her season total to 1,224, which ranks third at Wofford for a single season. She is 108 shy of the record of 1,332 set by Rhea DeJesus in 2004.